Men Can Experience Hot Flashes, Just Like Women in Menopause

This was detected in castrated men

Besides the mental suffering due to the loss of sexuality, the hormonal changes linked to menopause also suppose a physical ordeal: the hot flashes.

Hot flashes are commonly perceived as a feeling of intense heat with sweating and rapid heartbeat, and - in case of older women - may typically last from two to thirty minutes

The event may be repeated a few times each week or up to a dozen times a day, with the frequency reducing over time. Hot flashes can be also experienced by younger women while menstruating or expecting to menstruate soon (premenstruation typically lasts one or two weeks), in episodes that do not usually last long.

If hot flashes occur at other times in a young woman's menstrual cycle, they may signal a problem with her pituitary gland.

A new research has taken the researchers by surprise: men who have experienced chemical castration due to conditions like prostate cancer have hot flashes resembling those of menopausal women.

The research team could detect hot flashes in males employing sternal skin conductance. "Most people are unaware that men can have hot flashes. Even the patients themselves are often unaware that they are having them", said study author Dr. Laura Hanisch.

Developing a method that effectively detects when hot flashes take place can help both doctors and patients in tracking down these episodes, and can help researchers to determine their cause. "If we can use sternal skin conductance to monitor the frequency and perception of hot flashes, the data could then be used to develop safe and effective treatments that would be a better alternative than taking hormone treatments or discontinuing cancer-related treatments," said Hanisch. "Hot flashes going unnoticed may be a sign that people can adapt to them."

These patients could this way receive cognitive behavioral therapy in combination with drug treatments.